MSNBC's Weapons of Misinformation: Assad a Secular Sunni Under Attack by Shia Factions

The Greek tragic dramatist Aeschylus once wrote that “in war, truth is the first casualty.” We can see that casualty in the drumbeats for war by the Democrat Left and the Obama administration over Syria during the past week.

It was just a few years ago when Democrats were hailing Assad as a “reformer” and someone the U.S. could work with to bring stability to the Middle East (looking at you John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi). Alas, it seems now, they’ve changed their tune. The new one has a heavier drumbeat.

Now we have MSNBC bringing their fact-free analysis in support of this Democrat warmongering chorus in an article by Aliyah Frumin published this morning titled “In Syria debate, little mention of rebels,” in which she launches this dud SCUD:

In Syria, the religious dynamic is particularly acute as Assad –a secular Sunni — is under attack mostly from religious Shia groups with varied interests and outside support.  It is unknown which groups, if any, may be affiliated politically with elements in Shia-ruled Iran, Saudi Arabia or even Hezbollah in Lebanon.

If the U.S. administration knows more about the rebels, it isn’t sharing much with the public.

In fact, Assad is an Alawite, which is a sect of Twelver Shia, not a secular Sunni. And he is receiving support, not being attacked by, his longtime Shia allies Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. It isn’t clear if Ms. Frumin also is trying to lump the Saudis in with this Shia alliance supposedly attacking Assad, but the Saudis are most decidedly Sunni. And they are heavily funding and arming the Sunni Islamists trying to bring down the Assad regime. I doubt Al Jazeera America would have made the same mistake.

Perhaps before the media and political establishment throw us into a regional religious war in the Middle East over weapons of mass destruction, they should first be required to disarm themselves of their own weapons of misinformation? And maybe Ms. Frumin is better suited to the Miley Cyrus beat instead of the Middle East.